Slovakia ratifies Lisbon Treaty despite media law row

SLOVAKIA:SLOVAKIA'S PARLIAMENT ratified the EU's Lisbon Treaty last night, after a small ethnic-Hungarian party split with other opposition groups and pledged to support the accord.

Opponents of the government had threatened to block approval of the treaty in protest at a new media law, which they and major democracy and rights watchdogs say will severely restrict press freedom.

Government officials had suggested that the cabinet could resign if parliament blocked the treaty, and prime minister Robert Fico had raised the possibility of putting it to a referendum. The treaty, which must be approved by all EU members to come into force, reforms the bloc's institutions to cope with its expansion to encompass 27 states.

"SMK deputies unanimously agreed that the party will vote for the Lisbon Treaty," said the Hungarian party's leader, Pal Csaky, before last night's scheduled parliamentary vote on the treaty.

"This is a one-off decision, it is only related to the Lisbon Treaty, it is only related to maintaining Slovakia's good reputation," he added.

A leading Slovak newspaper yesterday quoted an unnamed minister as saying the government would resign if the treaty was not passed. Opinion polls suggest that Mr Fico's Smer party would crush the opposition if snap elections were held now. Mr Fico has lambasted the opposition, led by former prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda, for threatening to block the treaty and stall the EU-wide ratification process in protest at the new media law.

The law was passed this week despite complaints from institutions such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. This said it would undermine press freedom by forcing newspapers to print responses from people mentioned in articles, even if all the information published about them was true.

"This law clearly limits freedom of speech and limits democracy in Slovakia," said Mr Dzurinda, whose centre-right Slovak Democratic and Christian Union was ousted by the leftist, populist Smer in a mid-2006 election.

The ex-premier said that by leaving the right-of-reply clause in the law, the ruling coalition had ignored a key demand made by the opposition. "Under these circumstances, our deputies will not take part in the vote on the Lisbon Treaty," Mr Dzurinda said.

The SMK's votes allowed the treaty to be ratified, however, handing another political victory to Mr Fico.